Chapter 32: The Ginseng Child
Lu Yang hypnotized himself into believing that his senior sister had his best interests at heart. After truly accepting his task to replace earthworms in burrowing, he remembered something: earthworms don’t usually have genders.
“Why do earthworms have a husband and wife?”
Old Ba explained, “Ordinary earthworms indeed don’t have genders, a characteristic of lower life forms, oh, I don’t mean any offense by that. Intelligent, transformative earthworms do have genders, especially the Silver Ring Heavenly King Worms, the king of all earthworms, possessing a bloodline suppression over all other earthworms.”
“I understand. Please continue.”
Old Ba went on, “There was no issue with the Silver Ring Heavenly King Worm couple managing the soil loosening. But then, I made a careless comment, asking the wife if, like earthworms that can survive being cut in half, she could do the same to take turns working with her new self.”
“She was tempted by my words and immediately cut herself in half, turning into two individuals.”“It was like seeing identical twins, no, more like a clone. I watched one person turn into two and couldn’t tell which was the original.”
“Fortunately, they themselves could distinguish.”
“When the husband returned and saw two wives, he was completely dumbfounded. The two women then asked him whom he preferred.”
“Being a straightforward man, he confessed his liking for both.”
“Then, a family feud erupted. The three of them got caught up in a series of love and hate dramas and have since lost interest in working.” Old Ba seemed very remorseful in his tone.
Lu Yang: “…”
What a bunch of lunatics.
“How exactly should I do this?” After his rant, Lu Yang quickly adjusted his mindset, gradually adapting to the thinking of cultivators.
It’s all trivial matters.
Old Ba stroked his white beard with a smile: “Just go inside, someone will guide you. But I must warn you, entering the medicinal garden is for loosening the soil. If you dare to pick any herbs, the Silu Peak will hold you accountable!”
Silu Peak, managed by the eldest senior, is known for its justice and impartiality.
Thanking Old Ba, Lu Yang walked into the medicinal garden.
As soon as he entered, Lu Yang was hit by a herbal fragrance tens of times stronger than outside.
The aroma couldn’t possibly vary so much in just a few steps’ distance.
Lu Yang immediately realized that while Old Ba appeared to be the only one guarding the garden, a complete array was actually protecting it, preventing outsiders from entering.
The array concealed the garden’s aura, but with the overpowering fragrance of the herbs, it couldn’t completely contain it, leaking just a hint.
Even this faint fragrance could prolong life and avert disasters for mortals, hinting at the miraculous effects of the garden’s aroma!
Aside from the fragrance, the most striking thing was the spiritual energy – it was incredibly dense. Lu Yang suspected that the dew on the herbs was not water but droplets formed from condensed spiritual energy, each equivalent to a low-grade spirit stone!
Everywhere Lu Yang looked, the garden was lush with various unfamiliar and unheard-of herbs sprawling before him.
The herbs were neatly planted in rows, divided into different areas based on their species, dazzling Lu Yang’s eyes.
He dared not move carelessly, fearing he might step on some rare variety.
Crouching down, Lu Yang examined several herbs and finally recognized one. The plant had three leaves, each with distinct veins, resembling condensed ice and emitting a faint chill.
“Ice Essence Grass,” he recalled. “This herb helps in cultivating ice-based techniques and increases the absorption speed of spiritual energy.”
Each Ice Essence Flower in the garden was planted at a considerable distance from each other, to prevent their chilling aura from combining and freezing themselves.
Lu Yang had once fought against a puppet and was thoroughly defeated. Afterward, the puppet had used an Ice Essence Flower to treat his wounds, so he remembered it well.
As for the other plants, he really couldn’t recognize them.
“Hey, who are you?” A not-so-polite voice called out. Lu Yang instinctively turned around but saw no one.
“Who’s speaking?”
“Hey, look down here,” the voice instructed.
Lu Yang looked down to see a three-inch-tall ginseng child hopping around his feet. It seemed displeased that Lu Yang took so long to notice it, requiring its loud reminder.
“You’re so dumb, why didn’t you look down earlier? I had to remind you!”
The ginseng child was chubby with sturdy legs, running around Lu Yang energetically. Its roots served as arms, flapping as it ran. Its body’s patterns formed facial features, expressing emotions just like a human.
“Young man, who are you?” the ginseng child asked in an elderly tone.
Being an intelligent ginseng, it was certainly old, so Lu Yang didn’t dare to be disrespectful and bowed, “My name is Lu Yang, and I’m here to loosen the soil in the medicinal garden.”
“Just here to loosen the soil,” the ginseng child sighed in relief, worried that another hateful human had come to pick them.
It had nurtured all the herbs in the garden.
“You must have been allowed in by Little Ba. Besides him and that female demon, it’s been a while since I’ve seen outsiders.”
To the aged ginseng child, even Old Ba was just a junior.
What use is high cultivation when the true measure among them is longevity? It looked down on everyone in the Dao Seeking Sect.
Lu Yang knew the rules of the medicinal garden: the herbs were precious, and if one wanted to take any, they had to ask the garden’s caretaker. Without this task, Lu Yang wouldn’t have been allowed in.
He wondered who the ‘female demon’ the ginseng child referred to was. Another caretaker of the garden?
The ginseng child, with its roots akimbo, complained, “Why are all you humans so tall?”
Lu Yang also found it inconvenient to talk down, so he used his “Shrink” technique to reduce his size to three inches, matching the ginseng child’s height.
“Ah, you’re quite capable, much better than Little Ba,” the ginseng child exclaimed, pleased to see a human of its own size. It always disliked having to look up at humans.
The ginseng child was one solid piece, with no neck.
“From now on in this garden, just follow me,” it declared boldly, patting Lu Yang’s shoulder in approval.
“I still have some things to do, but I’ll take you to meet the other Medicine Kings after I’m finished.”
Medicine Kings were the most precious and intelligent of herbs. Even the most powerful sects might not possess one. Any sect which was a Medicine King would treat it like an ancestor.
From the ginseng child’s words, it seemed there were quite a few like it in the garden.
Lu Yang marveled inwardly at the profound depth of the Dao Seeking Sect.